Mount Agung

SEPTEMBER 2018:
CURRENTLY THE WARNING LEVEL FOR THE GUNUNG AGUNG HAS BEEN LEVEL 3 FOR A WHILE FOR ALL AREAS FURTHER AWAY THAN 4 KM FROM THE VOLCANO’S CRATER. THIS OF COURSE INCLUDES AMED WHICH IS SITUATED MORE THAN 15 KM FROM THE CRATER.
GUNUNG AGUNG IS STILL A LITTLE BIT ACTIVE EVERY NOW AND THEN BUT ONLY BY PUSHING OUT SOME STEAM, SMOKE AND SOMETIMES LITTLE VULCANIC ASHES.
IT DOESN’T IMPACT NORMAL LIFE WHATSOEVER!

For your convenience we created this ‘special’ information regarding the current situation regarding Mount Agung, the volcano that has become seriously active as of September 21,2017.

We don’t know if and when the situation might change but we will keep you posted. Currently the situation is considered to be steady and safe by the Indonesian government.

1. We are open and we can service you fully.
2. All roads to and around Amed are still accessible.
3. All hotels, restaurants and diving centers are open.
4. The Indonesian government has declared Amed as a safe area.
5. The alert level for the volcano has been set to level 3 by the Indonesian government for all areas situated further than 4 km from the vulcano’s crater and also to level 3 for all areas within 4 km of the crater. Amed is situated more than 15 km from the crater!
6. Only an area of 4 km around the crater is still still unaccessible. All other areas in Bali, including Amed, are considered to be safe by the Indonesian government.
7. You can dive and/or snorkel in and around Amed. No dive sites are currently closed.

History of events:
As of September 21, 2017, the warning level for a possible eruption was raised to level 4, being the highest warning level. A lot a volcanic activities were registered on a daily base.
Initially everybody was expecting an eruption within days. But nothing really happened and everything still remained basically the same. Despite some tremors and sometimes a little smoke from the volcano’s crater nothing really happened.
During the last week of October 2017 all volcano activities dropped drastically.
This all resulted in a drop of the severity warning level from 4 to 3.
For about 4 weeks everything looked normal apart from some white steam coming out of the crater.
On November 22, 2017 this changed and dark smoke started coming out of the crater. After two days the smoke disappeared again.
On November 25, 2017 Gunung Agung erupted by throwing out black smoke and vulcanic ashes. (No hot lava was ejected.) This affected the flying routes and the airport was closed for a couple of days. After 3 days the airport was fully operational again. Gradually the eruption came to a halt.
Since than the vulcano only every now and than has had some minor outbursts with no or very limited impact for areas in Bali further away than 6 km from the crater. This resulted in the current status with only warning level 2 for areas further out than 6 km, like Amed, Kuta, Sanur, Ubud etc., and level 4 for areas within 6 km of the vulcano’s crater.
On February 10, 2018 (due to minimal activity of the volcano) the Indonesian government extended all areas up to 4 km of the crater to warning level 2 and lowered the warning level for all areas within 4 km of the crater to level 3. So in fact all evacuees have been allowed to return home. (No people actually live within 4 km of the crater)